Serena Williams narrowly avoided a bagel against Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa in the first set, then won 13 of the next 15 games to pull out a 7-5, 6-2 victory yesterday in the first round of the US$5.4 million China Open in Beijing.

Williams looked lethargic and flat-footed at the start, pushing the ball back without much pace or direction and occasionally shanking groundstrokes. After only 15 minutes, she had already dropped serve three times and fallen behind 5-0.

Just as quickly as she gave up such a big lead, however, Williams turned it around. In the next game, the 18-time major winner saved a set point and broke Soler-Espinosa to finally get on the board.

"I didn't want to lose 6-love," Williams said. "I just started fighting. I was like, just let me at least try to break here."

Soler-Espinosa had another set point on Williams' serve in the following game, but the American saved it with a cross-court backhand winner at the net and cruised the rest of the way.

On the men's side, US Open champion Marin Cilic struggled against Chinese wild-card entry Bai Yan, ranked 462nd in the world, but held on to win 6-3, 6-4.

Cilic said he's still getting used to the feeling of being a Grand Slam champion and dealing with all the pressure and attention that brings.

"Most of the guys at the top are dealing with that already for a few years. It's a bit new thing for me, so I'm learning day to day," he said. "Most important for myself is also not to put too many expectations on my own shoulders."

Other winners included ninth-seeded Ana Ivanovic, who took advantage of eight double-faults by Belinda Bencic to beat the rising Swiss teenager 6-2, 6-1, and US Open semifinalist Peng Shuai of China, who defeated Zhang Kailin 6-4, 6-1.

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